


The First Null

by GeneralVee



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, accidental murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27157870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeneralVee/pseuds/GeneralVee
Summary: Soon after meeting one another, Simon and Grace encounter another friendly denizen.
Relationships: Simon Laurent & Grace Monroe
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	The First Null

It was soon after they had first met, only a few cars down from where Samantha had left Simon to die, that they met Teddy.

Teddy was another denizen, an enormous, mostly-sentient teddy bear. It had taken a liking to the pair of kids and started following them, even as they were leaving the car it'd been found in. Simon had already been in wide-eyed wonder at Teddy's world, a soft and inviting landscape of plush fabric and stitches. Grace thought the whole thing was a bit too childish for her tastes, so they'd decided to move on.

Teddy was slow, bulky, and none too bright. But the thing seemed to lift her new friend's mood, so Grace had begrudgingly let it tag along. It had an annoying tendancy to hum some merry little tune as it waddled along, and an even more obnoxious habit of excitedly greeting anything they came across.

It was impossible to sneak past anything with the stupid bear always making noise. That was the topic of Grace's first nagging complaints, which she openly told Simon about as Teddy was standing right there. The bear only moaned sadly and groaned out an apology when it heard her outburst. But even if it meant it, it didn't change its habits at all. Simon, however, started to wince in second-hand embarrassment whenever Teddy greeted and waved to something, far too loudly for them to not get noticed.

The second time that resulted in an attack from hostile denizens, she again subjected Simon to a rant about his new friend. This time she listed off more of the bear's shortcomings. Simon cowed to that, but Teddy seemed entirely undeterred. It started to keep its distance from Grace physically, but still it didn't bother to stop doing annoying things.

The third time she had to bring it up, after Teddy's lumbering gait had slowed them down to a near deadly pace for the car they'd just passed through, she waited until they were between cars to give an ultimatum. She would be going on ahead, and Teddy would be going back to where it came from. Simon could choose which one he wanted to go with.

"I don't mind," Teddy had assured them, but then it continued by saying, in a voice just as slow as the rest of it, "Simon would be happier with me than you would."

Grace narrowed her eyes at the duo. "Are you gonna really choose that thing over a fellow human?" she asked the slightly younger boy. Simon shook his head immediately as he was trapped, forced to make a decision. "It doesn't even have a number, Simon. It's not real, not like we are."

"He's been really nice to us..." Simon began.

"Nice to you," she scoffed pointedly. "That thing's been getting on my nerves since the start. At this point, I'm starting to think it's on purpose."

"It's not on purpose," Teddy protested, one of the few times it had. "I promise."

"Me or it, Simon. Choose now," Grace demanded.

"Come on, Simon. Let's go home," the bear mumbled, placing its soft paws against his shoulders from behind. Simon's shivering got worse, and then he let out a grunt and shrugged away the bear's gentle touch, turning to face Teddy.

"No! That's not my home!" Simon told the bear. Grace smirked at it from behind Simon's back.

"It can be," Teddy assured him, holding up its arms in a friendly hugging gesture as it stepped toward Simon. "You can live with me forever," it promised.

"I don't want to!" Simon shouted, but the bear was still advancing forward, intent on hugging him. Flustered, Simon shoved it back, away from both himself and Grace.

Teddy stumbled back from the force of the shove. As big as it was, most of its bulk was polyfil, so it didn't take much effort to knock the thing over. Its natural clumsiness didn't help matters at all. Both were things that Grace had already pointed out during her anti-Teddy outbursts.

"Uh oh," Teddy suddenly said as it kept tipping from the force of the shove. Both kids watched in a stunned paralysis as the bear fell all the way back, off the edge of the train car's connecting ledge. It reached out to them as it tilted back and then fell out of sight.

A second later Simon rushed forward, falling to his knees and peering over the edge just in time to see a puff of white cotton being spat out from one of the train's massive wheels. Attached to the wad of cotton were familar bits of brown faux fur.

"I-I didn't mean to..." Simon hiccuped, sitting back as he continued staring at the wheel in horror. Grace shook off her own shock and walked up behind Simon, crouching to put a hand on his shoulder. He turned to her, sniffling. He was clearly on the verge of crying, once again.

"You made the right choice," she told him. "What happened... wasn't your fault. It could have walked away after you said no."

"He was only trying to be nice," Simon whimpered, his sniffling growing louder. Grace sighed and then adruptly pulled him into a hug of her own.

"It didn't even have a number, so it wasn't real. I bet you they already made a new one to replace it," she assured him, not certain if that was the truth. But it sounded like one, coming from her. She felt Simon's shivering start to die down.

She held onto Simon until his shaking had completely stopped, and only then did she murmur, quietly, into his hair. "You did the right thing. It was trying to seperate us, trying to trap you in its silly car. Now we don't have to worry about that stupid thing slowing us down and getting us into trouble either."

"You think so?" Simon asked as he pulled away slightly to look up at her. He still had tears in his eyes and a frown on his face, but it seemed like the imminent crying fit had been avoided.

"I know so. You do, too. Now come on, let's get go-" she had grabbed his hand to help him up when she caught sight of his number, which had just shot up into the triple digits for the first time. "Hey, look!"

She turned his hand over in hers so he could see how his number had grown. His eyes widened, reflecting the green light of it. "This proves that you did the right thing," Grace assured him, rubbing her thumb over the digits. Finally Simon gave her a shaky smile, glad to see the proof for himself.

"Yeah, I guess it does," he ran his own thumb over the number after Grace let go of his hand. He then looked down at the wheel again, but the remnants of Teddy had already fallen off and been taken by the wind.

"So can we continue on now?" Grace asked, a little impatiently. Quietly, Simon climbed to his feet and nodded, then followed after her as she went into the next car.


End file.
